Register and grille



June 8, 1937. J. A. GERMONPREZ 4 REGISTER AND GRILLE Original FiledSept. 30, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INYENTOR ATTORNEYS June 8, 1937. JGERMQNPREZ Q Re. 20,397

REGISTER AND GRILLE Original File d Sept. 50, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTQR ATTORNEYS V Reissued .June a, 1937 UNITED STATE REGISTER ANDGRILLE John a. Germonprel. Grosse Pointe Park, Mich, assignor to Uni-FloCorporation, a corporation of Michigan Original No.1,945,'972, datedFebruary 8, 1934,

Serial No. 566,149, September 30, 1931.

App

cation 'ior reissue April 1, 1935, Serial No.

12 Claims. (Cl. 98-108) This invention relates to aregister and grilleconstruction adapted more particularly for mounting in an opening in thewall or floor of .a room, through which opening heated or ventilat- 5ing air is forced into the room. Y

One of the primary objects of this invention is to provide a grilleconstruction which will be sub- I stantiallyinvisible and which willnot'thereiore 'i'orcibly attract the eye of a person entering the roomin which the register is mounted.

, A further object oi this invention is to provide a register and grilleconstruction by which vision into the stack head or concealed heat,cabinet with which the grille is associated will be minimized.

of an air duct, operates to control air flow beyond the grille causingrapid mixing of the incoming air with the room air [thereby reducing the,ve-

locity of the former and accelerating'circulation of the latter into theincomingair current so that the resultant moving air will be thoroughlydistributed throughout the room and have a velocity and temperaturewhich is comfortable to the occupants of the room and this in spite ofpronounced diflerences in temperature between the incoming air and theroom air.

The invention further contemplates the provision of a structure of theabove mentioned character in which all air noises will be minimized, inwhich a uniform flow of the air will be effected, and by which foreignobjects will be entirely prevented from entering the stack or heatcabinet with which the grille is associated.

A further object is to provide a register for an air duct having adamper arranged for actuation ina novel manner. I v

Numerous other objects and advantages of this invention will become moreapparent as the following description ,proceeds, particularly whenreference is had to the accompanying drawings,

wherein: Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a register and grilleconstructed in accordance with the'teachings of this invention; v

Fig. 21s a sectional view taken substantially on the line 2--2 of Fig.1;

Fig. 3 is a detail perspective An important object of the invention isto pro-- elements forming a part of the structure shown in Fig. 1; o

' Fig. 4 is an enlarged elevational view of a portion of the grilleshown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 5-5 of Fig.4;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line H of Fig. 5;and Fig. 'l is a'view similar to Fig. 4 showing a slightly modified formof. construction.

It is, at the present time, quite generally the practice to provideforced air conditioning or ventilating systems or concealed radiation inbuildings. For these systems, register openings are formed in the wallsor floorsof the rooms and grilles'are utilized for partially closingthese openings.

Heretofore grilles for this purpose have been constructed on the theorythat the main requirement was a maximum of free air opening. As aresult, these grilles have been built with face design sections or barsof substantial width and arranged to provide relatively large openingsthrough which the air might pass. The most popular type of grille hasbeen the square mesh grille with three-quarter inch square holes formedby spaced bars, these bars being usually onequarter of aninch in width.

Grilles of this character, even though formed to provide pleasingdesigns, have possessed numerous disadvantages, and it is an object ofthe present invention to eliminate these disadvantages in a manner whichwill hereinafter be more fully described. a

Referring then particularly to the drawings wherein like referencecharacters designate corresponding parts throughout all views, thenumeral III designates the wall or floor of a room, this wall beingprovided with a suitably located opening II. The reference character I!designates a stack or housing located within the opening 1 I, it beingunderstood that this stack may be in communication with a forced airconditioning and ventilating system or a remotely locatedheating-system. Rather, the stack I! might consti cured thereto in anydesired'manner. This casing is bent. or otherwise formed. adjacent itsview of one of the outer end to provide an inwardly extending flange l6and an outwardly extending flange l'|,.

character 23. The flange 22 of this inner cas-' ing preferably extendsat an obtuse angle to the flange 24 of the casing'so that when the innercasing is forced within the outer casing the I flange 22 thereofresiliently engages the grille v2|I to firmly force the same intoengagement with the flange Ii. V

The inner casing 2| constitutes a support for a damper 25, this damperbeing hingedly mounted in the upper end of the inner casing, as designated by the reference character 26. A coil spring 21 coiled about a pin28 fixed to the inner casing adjacent the upper end thereof is fixed at5 its end to the damper and tends to move the same to open position. 1

For moving the damper to closed position, there is provided a flexiblepull member or chain Ill provided throughout its length with spaced 30balls or protuberances 31. This chain extends at its one end through anopening 32 formed in the damper. Fitted in this opening is a sleeve 33,and this sleeve is provided with an enlarged recess It to provide a seatfor a spring 35. 'Ihis 35 spring is of conical shape. and the "chainpasses through this spring and is provided at its end the chain throughthe slot and thus hold the damper in position. The spring 35 provides infor facilitating locking engagement of the chain in the slot when thedamper is moved to closed position since this spring will givesumciently to permit movement of the chain to -a position where two ofthe enlargements therein will be arranged on opposite sides of the slotin the locking member. I k

i It will be noted that the grille is maintain within the outer casingby engagement of the flange of the inner casing with the inner-face ofthe grille adjacent the edge thereof. Thus grilles of differentthicknesses'may be mounted in the outer casing, the inner casing beingprop i erly positioned within the outer casing to effectively hold thegrille in position.

It will be noted mrther that the portion of the grille frame or outercasing which fits into the stack head is entirely smooth so that aperfect seal is effected at this point, thus eliminating the escape ofthe air around the grille frame. Still further, the flange 24 of theinner casing provides a shelf or flat surface'which snugly engages thefree edges of the damper when the latter is moved to closed position.This is an important feature of the construction since it eliminates airnoises such, for example, as air whistle which frequently developsbecause of the presence of a small opening between the edge of thedamper-and the damper frame when the damper. is in closed position.

As brought out before, the present invention contemplates soconstructing the grille 20 as to eliminate the numerous objections anddisadvantages of the grilles heretofore used. The structure'of thegrille will first be described, and then several of the advantages ofthis type of grille will be explained in detail in order that a morecomplete understanding of the inventive principles embodied in' thisapplication'may be obtained. p 7

Referring then particularly to Figs. 2 and 4 to 6, inclusive of thedrawings, it will be noted that the grille comprises a. plurality ofspaced thin strips or fins Ii which are supported and held 1 position.by thin flat bars 45, the latter being orced through slots 41 formed inthe fins.

Flanges J8 are preferably formed surrounding the slots, and theseflanges embrace the adiacent portions of the bars, as clearlyillustrated 1 in Fig. 6' of the drawings. After thebars. and fins havebeen properly assembled, the .whole unit may be made rigid by sweatingthe unit in,

, edges out of the planes of the fln bodies leaving inclined and roundedsurfaces extending partially across the narrow passages defined by theBy providing such depressions adjacent fins. along both the entering anddischarge edges of the fins, the latter are deformed uniformly andobjectionable distortion thereof avoided. The projections along thedischarge edges constitute agitators which break up the air streamsconfined by the flns with the result that the air discharged from thegrille is mixed with or distributed-throughout the room in anadvantageous manner later to be described.

In Fig. 7 a slightly modified form of grille construction is disclosedas comprising thin strips or fins 46', these stripsbeing provided intheir edges with the depressions 50'. These strips are bent intoa-zig-zag formation, as illustrated, and then the abutting portions ofthese strips, when a number of strips are assembled together, aresweated together to form a unitary construction of the cellular orhoneycomb type. Thus the grille may be formed without the use of thesupporting bars and thus he formed entirely of thin strips or fins.

Among'.the numerous advantages of the construction described above,several will be described in detail. As brought out before, a grilleconstruction, when mounted in a room, should the same. With the old typegrille in which the cross bars were three-thirty-seconds of an inch orgreater in width, the grille was readily visible from -any point intheroom and in fact, forcibly attracted the attention of personsentering the room. This condition is evidenced by the fact thatdesigners frequently attempted to improve the appearance of thesegrilles by curving the cross-bars or otherwise shaping the same intosuitable designs.

with a grille constructed, however, in accordance with'the teachings ofthis invention, the

- be as nearly invisible as it is possible to make eye passesthe grillewithout any noticeable reac 75 li -s07 tion and without being forciblyattracted to the same. with the approximately twentythousandths of an.inch thick and with these fins spaced apart approximately one-quarterof an inch and with the supporting bars of onesixteenth of an inchthickness and of one-quarter inch width it has been found that thegrillehecomes practically invisible at a distance of approximately-ten feet.At less distances the only 10 visible parts of the grille are the narrowvertical supporting bars. Also it will be seen that by making the finsfrom narrow metallic strips of ribbon-like thinness, very littleresistance is V offered thereby to the flow of air. At the same time,they are sufiiciently wide to straighten out the flow of air'through thegrille.

A further'important advantage of this construction is the fact that thegrille practically eliminates vision into the stack head. with the oldtype construction in which the bars define relatively large openings,.it was possible to readily see through thefgrille into the stack orconcealed heat chamber back of the grille. With the relatively thinstrips spaced and supported in the manner described in this application,the open-' grille in the manner described. Any resistance to the fiow of.air tends not only to throw the whole air heating or conditioningsystem out of balance, but tends also to' decrease the eiliciency of theentire installation. If the system utilizes 40 air blowers or the liketo eii'ect a circulation of the air, increased pressure must be providedto overcome the resistance to which the air flow is subjected. If thegrille is utilized with a heating system of the concealedradiation typeor gravity warm air installation, increased head pressure has to beproduced. It is therefore apparent that a grille which reduces the airresistance to a minimum is particularly desirable. This is accomplishedin the present instance through the use of the thin sheet metal fins andcross bars and' by constructing the deflecting elements Ill so that theyproject .only part way to the adjacent fins and are spaced along thelatter with the corresponding elements on the diilerent fins arranged inalinement with each other. i i A grille constructed in accordance withthe teachings of this 'invention when compared with a standardperforated metal square mesh grille with thirteenssixteenths inch squareholes and three-sixteenths inch spacing bars, shows the fol- I lowingcomparison as to air resistance. The .above mentioned type of standardgrille was chosen because of its past popularity, while a grille havingopenings and bars of the size mentioned was selected as compared to agrille having three-quarter inch square holes and onequarter inch spacebars which are usually used to give a greater free air opening- Comparedto daylight area which is the maximum condition 6 obtainable orthecondition which would exist if the air were permitted to flow throughthe wall opening without any grille whatever, it was found. that agrille constructed in accordance with the teachings of this inventionwas approximately 7 89.8 percent effective as compared to aneffectivements .5! as deflectors is that they render -unnecness of 7'1percent of the. standard square mesh grille. Compared to the aperture ofthe frame, the added resistance to the air flow imposed by the fin andbar type grille at 400 ft. velocity was only .0041 inch water gauge, or25 percent above 5 that of the aperture alone, while with agrille of thestandard square meshtype, there wasan additional air resistance of 71percent over the aperture of the frame. Since the horse power re--quiredto force the air through the grille is direct- 10 iy proportionalto the resistance, it is obvious that a considerable saving in horsepower-is effected, it having been found that it requires 36 percent morehorse power to force air through an old type grille than to force airthrough a grille con- 15 structed in accordance with the teachings ofthis invention.

Asbrought out before, a further advantage of this construction consistsin the elimination of air noises, such as air whistle, and theelimination of 20 all projections on the grille frame so that aneffective seal is obtained between the stack and this frame.

.The' invention possesses a further important advantage in that withthe'agitators or deflectors 2 J 0 constructed and arranged as abovedescribed,

air may be discharged into the room at a comparatively high velocity andthere may be a pronounced diflerence between the temperature of theincoming air and the room air. This desir- 3 able action may beattributed in part to a turbulence or swirling of the air streamsproduced beyond the discharge face of the grille by impingement of theconfined air streams against the in--' clined' deflecting surfaces ofthe bent portions 50 40 as these streams are discharged from the grille.Also, since the elements 50 are uniformly inclined in one directiontransversely of the front face of the grille, and are spaced a shortdistance apart longitudinally of the fins, they exert a deflecting 4.5eifect upon the whole body of air discharged from the grille andthusaifect the angle at which the air leaves the grille, As hereinshown, those deflectors protrude approximately one-third of the distanceacross the passages formed between the 50 fins and the longitudinalspacing of the deflectors is only slightly greater than the distancebetween the fins.

An important advantage in the use of the eleessary the mounting of thefins at different angles to obtain various degrees "of deflection, buton v the contrary permit the fins to be assembled uniformly for allgrilles. This is desirable from a manufacturing. standpoint in that itsimplifies 60 and reduces the cost of construction. In addition toytheperformance of the diffusing function above referred to, due to thespacing of the ele- .ments so longitudinally of the fins, suchspacingserves to perform an important function aifecting 65 theappearance of the grille. Thus it will'be seen that these elenrents havethe function of breaking up the straight line effect which wouldotherwise be formed by the front edges of the fins. Therefore anyaccidental departure of the forward edges of the fins from true parallelrelation is rendered unnoticeable. v l

To enable the diflusingelements Slto perform the above functions, thefins III are spaced uili ciently close together and the spa erect is 75y so correlated with the widths of the fins measured in the direction ofthe air flow from the grille that the narrow air streams into which thebody of air moving through the duct is divided by the fins are so.closely confined that the major portion of each air stream is subjectedto the action of the. elements. Thus, the fins III are preferably spacedapart not more than a distance of approximately one-quarter of an inchand the width of the fins 20 through the provision of the diflusingelements 50 which do not add to the manufacturing cost, the grilleisutilized not only to provide a neat and substantially unnoticeabiecovering for a duct opening but also performs the additional func- 25tion of controlling the air flow beyond the face of the grille to-eiIectproper distribution of the incoming air throughout the room and thiswithout increasing appreciably the resistance offered by the grille tothe flow of air therethrough.

It will be noted that the flexible actuating member which hangsdownwardly adjacent the wall in any position of adjustment of the dampereliminates the necessity of providing a rigid ac tuating member whichmight project into the 35 room and which might, because of itsprojection, become damaged or tear the clothingof persons coming intocontact with the same. The resillent means associated with theend of theflexible control member which is secured to the damper 40 provides for acomplete closing of the damper, thus facilitating the elimination of anopening between the edge of the damper and the flange 24.

It has been found further that the close spacing of the flns of thegrille, together with their 45, depth, provides for a uniform flow ofair through the grille opening without the necessity of utilizing airdeflector blades such as have heretofore been utilized with the grillesof standard con-1 struction. Still further, the close spacing of the 50fins makes the openings through the grille so small that all foreignobjects are prevented from passing through the grille and into the stackor heat chamber in back of the same.

From the above it will be apparent that the 55 invention provides animproved registerand grille construction which efliciently accomplishesthe results desired and eiiminates'the numerous objections anddisadvantages of the grilles heretofore used.- While the invention hasbeen de- 00 scribed in detail, it is to be clearly understood that thedescription is for the purposes of illustration only and is notdefinitive of the limits of the inventive idea. The right is reserved tomake such changes in the details of construction and 65 arrangement ofparts as will fall within the purview of the attached claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a device of the character describedna.

casing adapted to be positioned in an opening 70 in a wall, said casingbeing provided-with an inwardly extending flange adjacent its outer end,

a grille insaid casing engaging the rear 'face ofsaid flange, and asecond casing within said first mentioned casing having an inwardlydirected 75' flange rmiliently engaging the rear faceof said casingproviding relatively through which the air discharged from said stack 7grille to urge the same, into engagement with the flange of the firstmentioned casing.

2. In a device of the character descrl bed'an outer casing adapted to bepositioned in an open ing in a wall, said casing being provided with an5 outwardly extending flange adapted to engage the outer surface of thewall adjacent, the opening therein and being provided with an inwardlyextending flange adjacent its outer end, a grille within said casinggforsubstantially closing the 10 front thereof, said grille engaging theinner face of the inwardly directed flange on said casing,. and a secondcasing fixed within said first mentioned casing, said second casingbeing provided with an inwardly extending flange arranged to engage therear face of said grille and to yieldably urge the same into engagementwith the rear face of the inwardly directed flange formed on the outercasing.

3. In a device of the character described, a casing, a damper having anopening, a hinge for hingedly mounting said damper within said casing,

a spring for normally moving said damper in one direction about itspoint of hinged mounting, a

flexible actuating member for moving said damper in the other directionabout its point of hinged mounting, said actuating member being extendedthrough said opening .formed in said damper, and means for 'anchoringsaid actuating member to said damper comprising a bushing mounted in theopening in said damper, a spring seating in a a of to the damper, and abushing in the opening in said damper providing a seat for one end ofsaid spring. a i

5. In a device of the character described, an outer casing having aflange, a grille positioned within said outer casing, an inner casingfixed within said outer casing and having a portion engaging said grillef or yieldably urging the same into engagement with said flange formedonsaid outer casing,'a damper hingedly mounted in said inner casing,means normally urging said damper to open position, a flexible memberanchored to said'damper and extending through the said grille formovingthe damper to closed position,

said flexible member being provided throughout its length with aplurality of spaced enlargements, and a locking member fixed 'to saidouter casing, said locking member being provided with an opening throughwhich said flexible member loosely extends and being provided with aslot with which said flexiblemember may be engaged, the enlargements ofsaid flexible member being arranged to prevent longitudinal movement ofthe flexible member through the slot. I

6. The combination with a room wall having an opening therein for thedischarge of air into the room, and a stack positioned in said openingand arranged to discharge air through the same,

of a casing mounted in said opening and hav ng an inwardly extendingplane surfaced portion vsnugly engaging the said stack adjacent thedischarge end thereof, a grille positioned in said small openings mayflow, a second casing mounted in the first casing and supporting thegrille therein, and a damper member hingedly'mounted in the secondcasing adapted to be adjusted toward or from closed position relative tothe grille.

'l. The combination with a room wall having an opening therein, and astack arranged in said opening for discharge through the same into aroom, of an 'outer casing having a portion engaging the wall adjacentthe opening therein and having a second portion engaging the stackadjacent the discharge end thereof, a second casing positioned withinthe outer casing and having an inwardly extending resilient flange, anda damper pivotally mounted in said second casing and so arranged withrespect thereto that the edge of said damper snugly engages the inwardlyextending flange on said second casing when the damper is in closedposition.

8. A grille for controlling the discharge of air at one temperature intoa room having air at a different temperature, said grille comprising aplurality of fins made from narrow strips of ribboa-like thinness andadapted to be supported across an air discharge opening with opposingside faces in closely spaced relation, said fins cooperating to form amultiplicity of narrow transversely elongated passages operative todivide a moving body of air flowing through the grille into separatelyconfined streams, the width of the fins being substantially greater thanand correlated with the spacing between them so as to impart directionalcontrol to said air streams while passing through the grille, and amultiplicity of diffusing elements protruding from the dischargeedgeportions of the fins partially acres said narrow passages andarranged to provide a plurality of transversely spaced rows with theelements in 7 each row protruding in the same direction,rsaid elementsbeing in the form of depressions bent from the discharge edge portionsof the fins and shaped to provide outwardly and laterally inclineddeflecting surfaces with rounded sides, adapted to be impinged upon bysaid air stream to produce a turbulence in the moving body of air beyondthe grille.

-9. A grille for controlling the forcible discharge of air at onetemperature into a room having air at a'different temperaturecomprising, incomdifferent temperature comprising, in combina-- tion', asupporting frame, a group of thin narrow fins supported in said frame inuniformly spaced relation with their discharge edges coacting to formthe front face of the grille, said fins cooperating to form a pluralityof narrow transversely elongated air passages and having longitudinallyspaced portions bent to form a multiplicity of deflectors inclinedtoward said front face .of the grille for impingement by the air streamsconfined by said passages, said deflectors being arranged in parallelrows spaced a short distance apart across the front face of the grillewith the deflectors of adjacent rows protruding from the discharge edgeportions of the respective fins in the same direction.

11. A grille for controlling the discharge of air at onetemperature-into a room having air at a different temperaturecomprising, in combination, a supporting frame, a group of thin narrowfins mounted in said frame with their side faces spaced a short distanceapart uniformly and in opposing relation and with their discharge edgescoacting to form the front face of the grille, said fins cooperating toform a plurality of narrow transversely elongated air passages andhaving their discharge edge portions bent to form a multiplicity ofdeflectors'spaced apart lengthwise of the fins and disposed so as to beimpinged upon by the air streams in their discharge from said passages,said deflectors being located at regular intervals across the front faceof the grille and forming with the intervening portions of each of thefins a continuous forward edge with a periodic departure from a straightline.

, 12. A grille for controlling the discharge of air into a roomcomprising, in combination, a supporting frame, a group of thin narrowfins supported in said frame in closely spaced relation with theirdischarge edges coaeting to form a front face, said fins cooperatingto'form a plurality of narrow transversely elongated air passagesextending rearwardly from said face, and a multiplicity ofidefiectorsspaced apart longiztudinally of the fins and disposed in the paths ofthe air streams passing through the grill said deflectors beingpositioned to act upon said streams adjacent the point .of dischargethereof from the grille so as to change the direction of flow of spacedportions of the streams upon leaving the grille relative to adjacentintervening portions of the streams.

JOHN a. qnauonrnm'.

